1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to object moving apparatuses, object processing apparatuses, exposure apparatuses, object inspecting apparatuses and device manufacturing methods, and more particularly to an object moving apparatus that moves a tabular object placed along a predetermined two-dimensional plane, an object processing apparatus that performs predetermined processing to the object that is moved by the object moving apparatus, an exposure apparatus that forms a predetermined pattern by exposing the object moved by the object moving apparatus, an object inspecting apparatus that inspects the object moved by the object moving apparatus, and a device manufacturing method that uses the object processing apparatus or the exposure apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, in a lithography process for manufacturing electron devices (microdevices) such as liquid crystal display elements or semiconductor devices (integrated circuits or the like), an exposure apparatus such as a projection exposure apparatus by a step-and-repeat method (a so-called stepper) or a projection exposure apparatus by a step-and-scan method (a so-called scanning stepper (which is also called a scanner)) is mainly used.
In this type of the exposure apparatus, a substrate such as a glass plate or a wafer whose surface is coated with a photosensitive agent (hereinafter, generically referred to as a substrate), which serves as an exposure subject, is mounted on a substrate stage device. And, exposure light is irradiated on a mask (or a reticle) on which a circuit pattern formed, and the exposure light via the mask is irradiated on a substrate via an optical system such as a projection lens, and thereby the circuit pattern is transferred onto the substrate (e.g. refer to PCT International Publication No. 2008/129762 (the corresponding U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0010950)).
In recent years, however, a substrate that is an exposure subject in an exposure apparatus, especially, a substrate for liquid crystal display element (a rectangular glass substrate) has tended to grow in size, for example, the length of a side of the substrate has been increased to 3 m or more, and accordingly, a stage device of the exposure apparatus has also grown in size, and its weight has also increased. Therefore, the development of a stage device has been desired that can guide an exposure subject (substrate) at high speed and with high precision, and further, has a simple configuration with which the size and weight can be reduced.